21 July 2006

Sweet dreams

I dreamt of alpaca last night; here it is in early morning light -- a dream come true. ; ) It's celebratory handspun, part of a gift from Down Under sent by Yarnivorous Lynne a few months ago in commemoration of a year smoke-free. I've actually had in mind a Smoke Ring for this yarn -- more about that one day soon -- but I think it is going to be good as the Victorian Shoulderette -- with the added feature of edge-of-your-seat suspense (that some of us go for in this "relaxing" hobby of knitting) because the yardage may be just a wee bit short. That's a worry for another day -- if it even develops at all -- and I have some ideas if it does. No (real) worries. ; } I have never knit with handspun before -- oooooh, this is nice! I'm not buying spindles or wheels or talking about "whorls" or "top," yet (is that right? I think that's spinning talk...), but it's nice! I knit 25 rows of the little shawl last night and I love everything -- love the yarn, love the pattern, love the stitch markers, love that I'm doing it on straight needles instead of circs (for the time being, anyway). Is there a Sivia Harding Fan Club? Sign me up...

It gets better. Along with the above-mentioned alpaca (in-the-hank on the left) Lynne sent more handspun. OMG, this stuff is so soft -- this could turn my head to spinning. Heh. I am planning to make a scarf with it -- I want it close to my face -- though I haven't decided on a pattern.

I have no big plans for the weekend -- there will be nicer, cooler weather for the farmers' markets tomorrow, thankfully, maybe I'll do some gardening/yard work. It might even be nice enough for working with a wool cardigan, in which case Fib may see the light of day. Next weekend I'll be selling some junk stuff at my sister's huge rummage sale, so I'll be continuing to ready for that. It would be nice to find time to visit the girls at Yellow Dog Knitting again during that trip -- maybe Thursday morning-ish. (Their site appears to be down at the moment, but that link should work eventually.)